The present invention is directed to a machine or apparatus for successively processing cardboard sheets passing through a machine, particularly a printing machine or press. This machine or apparatus will have a main conveyor which is made up of a suction belt and extends between an input and output of the machine, a plurality of printing or working stations each having one blanket cylinder mounted on an active part of the station and one counter printing cylinder arranged on a vertically geometrical axis of the blanket cylinder beneath the suction belt and a pressure roller at the input of the machine and at the output.
Generally, the machines for processing cardboard sheets, particularly printing machines, comprise several printing stations or groups following each other. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,531,929, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, describes such a machine for processing sheets conveyed through several successive stations. U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,579, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, also discloses a similar type machine. Both the machines or apparatuses described in these two applications refer to printing or cutting stations lifted or lowered from a working position to an out-of-order or withdrawn position. Moreover, the various successive stations are not immediately following each other but are always separated by a space allowing the passage of the operator between each processing group or station. This arrangement increases the length of the machine and hinders an easy and quick setting of the various stations since access of the operator to these stations is only allowed from one point in the machine. Thus, due to the arrangement of the various stations, the operator can only work on the spare space left between the stations.